No let up in heat wave in Telangana, Andhra

Hyderabad: There was no let up in the heat wave gripping Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Monday while the met office has issued a warning of severe heat wave conditions for both the states for next two days.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that severe heat wave to heat wave conditions will prevail in all 10 districts of Telangana till April 27.

It has made a similar forecast for all four districts of Rayalaseema and six out of nine districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The heat wave in both the states reeling under second successive drought has killed dozens of people, triggered drinking water scarcity and migration by farmers and agriculture labourers to towns.

“Severe heat wave to heat wave condition most likely to prevail over many parts in the districts of East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore of coastal Andhra Pradesh and in the districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Kurnool of Rayalaseema,” said the meteorological centre here.

Khammam, Nalgonda and Ramagundam in Telangana sizzled at 45 degrees Celsius on Monday, while Badrachalam and Hanmkonda recorded 44 degrees.

Hyderabad is also in the grip of intense heat wave with mercury rising to 43 degrees Celsius. This is second time this month that the city recorded this temperature, the highest for April in over four decades. Mahabubnagar and Medak also recorded maximum temperature of 43 degrees.

Streets were deserted in many parts of the state, especially between 12 noon and 5 p.m. as hot winds forced people to remain indoors.

The state’s disaster management department remained silent on the number of deaths due to heat wave after confirming 66 deaths as on April 2 even as the unofficial reports say the harsh weather has claimed over 200 lives so far this season.

In the drought-hit Telangana, the children and the elderly were the worst-affected by the heat wave. Dozens of cases of sunstroke are being referred to government-run hospitals every day. The daily wage labourers, vendors, beggars and others living on the streets were the worst-hit.

Andhra Pradesh too had confirmed 45 deaths in the first week of April but since then the officials have not revised the toll.

The opposition parties in both the states claim that the governments are suppressing the deaths as they have to pay compensation to the families of the victims.

According to the met office, temple town of Tirupati in Rayalaseema and Jangamaheswarapuram in coastal Andhra recorded maximum temperature of 46 degree Celsius during last 24 hours. Nellore and Nandyal too sizzled at 45. It was 44 in Nandigama, Kadapa and Kurnool.